Voynich manuscript’s health secrets revealed

The manuscript dates from the 1400s and came into the hands of the bookseller Wilfrid Voynich in 1912Alamy

For decades the 15th-century Voynich manuscript has baffled linguists and mathematicians with its apparently indecipherable code.

But what was called the world’s most mysterious manuscript may be quite simple after all, and a British scholar claims to have identified it as a health manual for a well-to-do lady.

Nicholas Gibbs, an expert on medieval medical manuscripts, spent three years studying the script and images, which for a century have provoked intrigue and crackpot theories.

Instead of it pinpointing the moment aliens would take over the Earth, or revealing the location of the Ark of the Covenant, it appears to be recommending the dosage of herbs to treat gynaecological conditions.

The key, Mr Gibbs said yesterday, was realising that the text was composed of Latin ligatures,…